~X~OSRS: Xeric~X~

As a lore nut, I recently started playing Old School and noticed they're building a story of their own. In the far off continent of Zeah, there was once a king: King Shayzien VII. As you play through the novice quest series themed after the five houses, you learn that king returned from the dead as none other than the evil wizard Xeric, who created the lizardmen as servants, tried to subjugate all of Great Kourend, and worst of all, is probably still out there somewhere due to creating a new font of dark magic to exploit for immortality.

...But that's about where it leaves off. The rest delves into speculation based on the pieces scattered around the continent. Mainly:

the contents of the completed Kharedst's Memoirs https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/w/Kharedst%27s_memoirs

the Ancient Letter https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/w/Ancient_letter

the mysterious voice that calls out from Xeric's new copycat altar https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/w/Mysterious_Voice

First theory: Xamphur is King Kharedst IV, the father of the girl who wrote Kharedst's Memoirs.

As you read through the memoirs, it becomes abundantly clear he's acting strangely and paranoid, and he gave her some sort of rose-shaped amulet radiating dark magic. If that wasn't enough, the flask he's been drinking from has an "X" on it! It doesn't make any sense for him to be Xeric, but Xeric's right hand man? Perhaps, and perhaps an important piece in how Xeric managed to regain strength as of recent years.

Second Theory: Camorra and Xeric were married! debunked

This one's a stretch that I'm still piecing together, the Mysterious Voice shows a female chathead and says "Rickard! Turn away! Don't do this!" Since Rickard isn't any of the people mentioned in the expedition's logs, I assume it's King Shayzien VII/Xeric's first name. We know Camorra and Xeric were entombed right next to each other , which implies a connection. Piecing that together, I thought it was clear that he sacrificed her to create the Unstable Altar, and that's the voice....but the timeline doesn't add up at all. Camorra was said to have founded the Shayzien, and Xeric was King Shayzien the VII. Big year difference. I'd say "that's that", but then what alternate explanation would make more sense of this information?

While I was on the unrestricted worlds I came across a journal from Tekton,

https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/w/Tekton%27s_journal

This has prompted a third theory: The crystals around Great Kourend are responsible for necromancy magic, and the immortality of the Arceuus house!

The main places we see these giant formations are in places associated with Xeric and Arceuus. In the journal, Tekton says that Xeric wanted to keep the magic of the crystals to himself, but failed. So I draw the connection that it was the Arceuus house that learned how to harness the crystals themselves for the abilities of the necromantic spellbook. They're also immortal, with a form that is is linked directly to the power of the Dark Altar, which is surrounded by said crystals, so perhaps the tzhaar-looking creatures simply told them the knowledge that Xeric had been hoarding for himself about how to harness the crystals?

I like to think the old school realm is infact blast from the past, and to this day, from those days, Zeah has been re-detached from the other lands, ultimately forgotten and only to be re-discovered in the spoiled nowadays.

But i for one of very few appearently feel you here, nothing nasty meant by it, but as much as majority of that past's adventurer base tend to pay attention to the many bosses and their rewards only, mmmhm... Curious stuff, salotions for those chaps that put such story behind the things over there surely!

Second Theory Redux: The Mysterious Voice was potentially Xamphur's wife (debunked), who is mentioned in the memoirs to have died, which would mean he created the unstable altar. Perhaps he managed to cheat death, and actually resurrected Xeric. That would certainly explain the exploded, empty tomb! This Xamphur character is increasingly looking like a formidable threat, especially after someone let me know you could use a knife on the memoirs for a hidden final page. Though it leaves an ominous question: who's grave is this?

The "strange energy" around it would make me think Xamphur, but he also gave his daughter that weird locket. Hmm...

Re-reading the memoirs, I think I can fully confirm that the wizard mentioned who first harnessed the Dark Altar was Xeric, and that knowledge was leaked to the Arcaeus house later.

Currently using the memoirs on various key characters looking for hidden dialogue. Interesting stuff so far.

The Old Dwarf for example mentions he had a panflute, a dirty book, and a charred skull stolen from him. The same dwarf that had dialogue for me using this dirty old book on him. That would make the panflute the golden one, so then who's skull did he have?! I'd keep an eye on this guy. I get the feeling he's important to this whole Xamphur business, between that and him making Rose's dark locket. What could it all mean?

A strange contradiction I found was one of the people I used the book on said Rose's mother died in childbirth, but Rose writes that her father has been acting strange "since mother died, I suppose." I think this lends to my theory that she was sacrificed and false information was thrown around. (or even implanted, these people have shown that kind of power with Veos) (debunked)

Of minor note, in Dragon Slayer 2, you get to see a flashback of Camorra Shayzien, putting the final nail in the coffin of my original second theory, as her chathead looks nothing like the spirit in the altar.

An OSRS questpoint cape and yet I still fall short of this mystery. Whether there's more hidden lore strewn about Kourend or this has to wait for a future content update remains to be seen, but I for one (and apparently only one!) am fascinated to see where it's headed.

edit: Wait a second. Why are there two mysterious altars with chains on them in that picture?

SECOND THEORY TRIDUX: WE'VE FOUND RICKARD! Or rather, the OSRS wiki did and I managed to find out how they knew it. Behold, the Armed Forces Report in the Arceuus Library! Penned by a one Lord Rickard Shayzien, at the time of the rule of King Hosidus V, AKA just before Xeric's shenanigans.

The woman can't be Rose and the captor Xamphur, then. They existed hundreds of years later. [debunked]The woman, then, must be Rickard Shayzien's wife, with Rickard chained up on an altar beside her. She's not pleading to her captor at all, she's pleading to her husband to turn away in fear instead of watching the horrors unfold on his wife. Xeric killed them both to fuel his Unstable Altar.[/debunked]

Let's look at that timeline again:

So we know from the Royal Accord of Twill that the lord of the house becomes the next king when they take turns. https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/w/Royal_accord_of_twill If the military commander Lord Rickard Shayzien IS the very same Shayzien member who then becomes king after Hosidius...

Lord Rickard Shayzien, leader of Shayzien House, sacrificed King and Queen Hosidius V, to create the Unstable Altar. This caused him to be the next house in line for the cyclical throne, becoming King Shayzien VII. He sacrificed many others in twisted experiments below Mount Quidamortem using strange crystals imbued with necromantic magic. He would eventually fall, only to come back as Xeric the evil wizard, who terrorized all of Kourend with his lizardmen army. He would eventually fall at the hands of Byrne, who replaced him as king.

At some time in between here, the Arceuus House learned how to harness the same crystals as Xeric to abandon their mortal bodies and take on the form we know today.

Fast forward a while and you have King Kharedst IV, who appears to have brought Xeric back from the dead and taken on the name "Xamphur". The state of himself and his daughter Rose are still a mystery.

Bonus theory I just thought of: Remember the mysterious skull held by the dwarf? I believe it is none other than Xeric's Ensouled Head. The whole shtick of the Necromancy spellbook that the Arceuus teach you is that you can take a head which has the soul trapped in it, add some magic, and resurrect them. In most cases, to kill for prayer xp. In this case, for an ancient evil to reawaken and terrorize the land of Zeah once more. Tomato tomahto.

This doesn't change the above theory, only build on exactly how I think Xamphur did it: Procuring the Ensouled Head (charred skull) from the dwarf, returning the skull to its body in the Shayzien Crypts (as anyone who's done Restless Ghost would tell you is the right thing to do!) and enacting a dark ritual, causing the coffin to explode and Xeric to rise once again!